After 11 years as a leading mortgage CUSO, Prime Alliance has been sold to become a subsidiary of Mortgage Cadence, a mortgage technology firm with a similar approach and some credit union clients. As a subsidiary of Mortgage Cadence, the firm will no longer remain a CUSO.

About 600 credit unions around the country use the Prime Alliance mortgage processing platform, whether directly or indirectly through another housing finance CUSO.

In an interview with Credit Union Times, executives with the two firms explained that the move provides Prime Alliance with the capital it needs to continue growing and improving its mortgage processing platform and will link two companies with similar visions.

“The Prime Alliance team is very excited about our acquisition by Mortgage Cadence. We are companies with similar histories, cultures and perspectives on the mortgage business,” explained Dan Green, executive vice president for credit union services at Prime Alliance. “Both were founded to make the mortgage process easier and more transparent for home buyers and refinancers as well as more efficient and more cost effective for lenders. Prime Alliance has done a remarkable job of that for credit unions over the last 10 years,” he said.

Green will continue as a marketing executive with Mortgage Cadence, and other senior Prime Alliance board members and executives will be employed by the firm. The firm will also launch a advisory group of credit union executives that will advise it on credit union operations and marketing strategy.

Joe Brancucci, Prime Alliance's founder and CEO/chairman becomes a member of the Mortgage Cadence Board as a result of this transaction.

Even though it has been sold, Prime Alliance will retain its name and continue on as a subsidiary of Mortgage Cadence.

Mortgage Cadence, a Denver, Colo.-based firm, was launched in 1999 and has specialized in providing a variety of products that have helped banks and credit unions streamline and automate their housing finance loan origination, document management and compliance processes. Its software packages could be called loan origination systems, but Mortgage Cadence CEO Michael Detwiler eschews the label as reductionist and inaccurate. He prefers the term enterprise lending software because of the increased flexibility and individualization that the firm's software provides. Green noted that Prime Alliance also disliked calling its products LOS and that this attitude toward what each firm was trying to do had been part of what made them see each other as good partners.

Historically, Mortgage Cadence has provided solutions to top lenders and large credit unions and has had some of the largest and most advanced financial institutions in the market as clients. With credit unions at the center of Prime Alliance's customer base, Mortgage Cadence saw an opportunity to build off of Prime Alliance's superior technology and talented team to provide unrivalled solutions to credit unions and their members, Mortgage Cadence explained.

“I believe that we are combining two of the most innovative groups in the financial services space in an effort to provide the single best customer experience for lenders and consumers” said Mortgage Cadence Executive Vice President of Sales Trevor

Gauthier. “We are already a formidable force in the market, and this transaction exponentially strengthens our position. No other company will have the available technology stack or industry experts that the new Mortgage Cadence brings to bear with the addition of Prime Alliance.”

Currently, Prime Alliance is owned by three credit unions, each of whom had already agreed to sell their shares in the CUSO. As there were no regulatory or other requirements for the sale, the executives said the integration of the two firms would proceed immediately.

“Overall, I think it's likely a very good move for credit unions,” said Robert Dorsa, president of the American Credit Union Mortgage Association. “We have already reached an 8% market share, and we are going to need our technology providers willing to step up to keep working on their systems and products to go farther,” he said.

Instant Insights /

Prime Alliance Sold to Mortgage Cadence: Print Preview

Related Stories

Recommended For You